Small bamboo shelter

• Main Author: Vimalatulasi Vetrivel
• Other Authors: Lee Chi King
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Environmental engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/16057
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Bamboo is one of the oldest and most resourceful construction materials with numerous purposes in the field of construction, particularly in rural areas. It characterized by high strength and low weight, and is effortlessly worked using simple tools. Bamboo constructions are easy to build, flexible to wind and readily repairable in the occurrence of damage. It is tough and lightweight and can often be used without dispensation or finishing. Despite of these clear advantages, the use of bamboo in building structure has been largely constrained due to limited natural durability, difficulties in jointing, a lack of structural design data and segregation from building codes. This project challenges us to overcome these limitations to design a bamboo shelter by means of traditional method as much as possible. The bamboo species used in this experimental report is Dendrocalamus strictus imported from Thailand. This report will be providing methodology and data analysis on parameters such as bending and bearing strength of the bamboo. In addition to that, the methodology of joint connection and bamboo truss calculation for the bamboo shelter will be discussed as well. The literature review covers the main points that support these practical tests. These parameters play an important role in carrying out the execution of the bamboo shelter as it sets a guideline to it. These practical tests took approximately two months to get it completed. However, due to time limitation the number of practical tests for these parameters was restricted. In future, more practical tests should be done to get more consistency of the results. A copy of this report will be given to Lien Institute for the Environment (LIFE) for their support in this project and as a guideline for the further project on bamboo.